Ottawa residents have among the longest commutes to work in
the country, according to 2006 census data that portray the city's
transit use in an overall positive light.

Ottawa residents have among the longest commutes to work in the country, according to 2006 census data that portray the city's transit use in an overall positive light.

The data released yesterday show Ottawa commuters travel on average 8.1 kilometres to work, the sixth-longest journey in the country. That distance is up slightly from the last census, when the average travel was 7.9 kilometres.

The list is topped by bedroom communities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), including Oshawa, whose residents travel an average 11 kilometres to work, Toronto itself (9.4), Barrie (9.0) and Hamilton (8.3). Calgary (8.2) is fifth on the list followed by Montreal (8.1) and Ottawa-Gatineau (8.1).

Brian Shifman, executive director of Smart Commute North Toronto-Vaughan, a non-profit consulting firm in the GTA, says the high commute times are a result of an expansion of the city's suburbs.

"You have more people travelling further because they're living further away," he says. "When you have centralized downtown cores like Toronto, Montreal and areas of Ottawa, it's easier to access local transit and walkways. As you move into the suburbs, there's more driving."

However, while Ottawans' commute may be long, the city's travel time is not. According to a statistics Canada report from 2006, the region's 66-minute average round-trip daily commute was the second shortest of major Canadian cities behind Edmonton (62 minutes).

In contrast, commuting distances in Toronto and Montreal have barely increased, but a separate Statistics Canada study showed that, over the past decade or so, it has been taking commuters a lot longer to get to and from work in those cities: 22.6 per cent more time in Montreal and 16.2 per cent more time in Toronto.

"The gap between the slow increase in distance and the faster increase in commuter times may be due to greater road congestion, which leaves many commuters having to spend more time than before covering practically the same distance," the study said.

In comparison, the report cast the national capital as a green city when it comes to commuting.

Ottawa-Gatineau had the lowest proportion of workers, 62.7 per cent, driving to their jobs. The region also had the third-highest public transit use in the country (19.4 per cent), ahead of Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Toronto (22.2) and Montreal (21.4) topped the list. The rates of people who walk (6.8 per cent) and cycle (2.1 per cent) to work in Ottawa have remained fairly constant over the past decade.

Overall, Ottawa, which was recently named the healthiest Canadian city in the east by Best Health magazine, distinguishes itself when it comes to renewable transit, Statistics Canada analyst Brett Singbeil says.

"Ottawa kind of stands out,' Mr. Singbeil says. "We're seeing a very high use of public transit. There's also quite a few people walking to work compared with some of the other large CMAs (Census Metropolitan Areas)."

In total, the number of commuters in Ottawa rose by 3.2 per cent since 2001, to 437, 745. Sustainable transport, which includes public transit, cycling, walking and other more eco-friendly modes, nudged up by nearly two per cent, to 30.2 per cent from 28.4 per cent in 2001. Car usage, including drivers and passengers, went down by about the same amount, to 69.1 from 70.9 per cent in 2001.

Overall, 21.2 per cent of Ottawa residents use public transit, compared to 14.4 per cent of Gatineau residents. Ottawa's numbers increased 1.1 per cent since 2001 and almost two per cent rise in the past decade.

Those numbers compare very favourably to U.S. cities.

"Usage in Canadian cities is across the board higher than American cities except the New York metro area," Mr. Singbeil says.

After New York, where about 31.5 per cent of residents choose public transit to get to work, usage drops off abruptly. San Francisco-Oakland is next highest, with about 14-per-cent usage.

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